Fresh/wet hopped beer ideas

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So I brewed on Sat. and was very concerned about my final volume so I was pretty stuck on having 7.5 gal starting volume in the kettle, which I got. I was concerned that all the freshies would soak up more juice than they actually did. Anyway, I only did a 60 min boil and did use all 3 pounds of fresh Cents (that's actually what I named the beer too). I have just a bit under 6 gal in the fermenter, OG was about 1.054 if I remember right and it smells amazing! I don't necessarily have plans to dry hop, though I can, but I will cold crash it once I feel that fermentation is nearly over. I may also experiment with yeast washing after I transfer as well.

So I was going to transfer my fresh hop yesterday since it has been in the primary for 8 days now I figured it would be down around the 1.014 range or so. I took a gravity reading and it is only at 1.020 which still seems a bit high so I agitated the fermenter to hopefully wake up any sleeping yeasties and moved the fermenter up to a warmer room in my house. I will recheck the gravity tomorrow and see where it's at then determine if I will transfer & dry hop. I am all set up to reclaim and wash the yeast from this batch too which will be a first for me.
 
I tasted a few of my beers over the weekend and I was pleasantly surprised. It's not fully carbonated yet but the hops made a comeback! The body is a bit too light but it's very drinkable. Maybe I can take a picture next weekend when it should be fully carbed up :mug:
 
So I was going to transfer my fresh hop yesterday since it has been in the primary for 8 days now I figured it would be down around the 1.014 range or so. I took a gravity reading and it is only at 1.020 which still seems a bit high so I agitated the fermenter to hopefully wake up any sleeping yeasties and moved the fermenter up to a warmer room in my house. I will recheck the gravity tomorrow and see where it's at then determine if I will transfer & dry hop. I am all set up to reclaim and wash the yeast from this batch too which will be a first for me.

I've gotten into the habit of making about 5-10% of the fermentables some simple, fully fermentable sugar (dextrose, sucrose, etc.). Since then I've not had my batches stall out at 1.020.

before, even when I mashed low, it was hard to get them down there.


I tasted a few of my beers over the weekend and I was pleasantly surprised. It's not fully carbonated yet but the hops made a comeback! The body is a bit too light but it's very drinkable. Maybe I can take a picture next weekend when it should be fully carbed up

good to hear! I bottled mine this weekend and am patiently awaiting carbonation as well. It went drier than I expected, which is a plus (1.005). But the hops weren't shining as much as I expected when I tasted it. they were there, definitely, but after 56 oz of hops, I was expecting more. I, as well, hope the carbonation perks up the flavors a bit.

There is something subtly distinct about the taste of the fresh hops, and I can't place it.

I'd still very much like to hear a BCMJ judge (or just an enthusiastic sommelier) talk about the differences. My palate is just not refined enough to really pinpoint the distinctions.
 
Well, I bottled my fresh hop APA on Sept 20th, let it carbonate for a week and had my first taste last night.

It turned out great! Not as much bitterness as I thought there'd be from the bittering hops and the pine aroma that was in the fresh hops at harvesting time didn't get into the beer but wow did the grapefruity citrus flavour of the fresh hops POP!

I can't wait to try them in another recipe next harvest time! Next time I'll come up with a recipe on my own instead of adapting an ingredients kit. In the meantime I'll enjoy this brew while it lasts (which probably won't be long)!
 
Congrats! Mine is conditioning right now. I've had a bottle or two of it and it isn't bad, but isn't great.

The fresh hop flavors come through really well, but it doesn't seem particularly balanced... Probably bc I only used one variety.
 
Congrats! Mine is conditioning right now. I've had a bottle or two of it and it isn't bad, but isn't great.

The fresh hop flavors come through really well, but it doesn't seem particularly balanced... Probably bc I only used one variety.

Mine worked out nicely after a few weeks. I wish it had more hops character but it's still an awesome beer. Good job!
 
Zombie thread revival.

I have 24 oz of fresh hops, would 12 oz at flame out and 12 oz for dry hop be far too much?
I have about 100 IBU of bittering from 3 oz of Cascade and Mosaic pellets in the boil already.
 
Zombie thread revival.

I have 24 oz of fresh hops, would 12 oz at flame out and 12 oz for dry hop be far too much?
I have about 100 IBU of bittering from 3 oz of Cascade and Mosaic pellets in the boil already.

I can only say that the hop aroma faded very quickly for me... So load it up and if it's too much just wait a bit and it will mellow to perfection :tank:
 
Zombie thread revival.

I have 24 oz of fresh hops, would 12 oz at flame out and 12 oz for dry hop be far too much?
I have about 100 IBU of bittering from 3 oz of Cascade and Mosaic pellets in the boil already.

Where did you get fresh hops at this time of year? Homegrown? Even my homegrown ones have been harvested for over a month and I thought the commercial ones were harvested quite a while ago.

Anyway, if they are wet hops, 12 oz wouldn't be too much at flame out, but I think wet hops get really vegetal when used for dryhopping and 12 ounces is a lot for that.
 
They are fresh-ish. Vacuum sealed and then frozen. A store here in Houston had them and all of the employees plus some home brewers i talked to there said that they would stay good like that for up to 4 months.
 
They are fresh-ish. Vacuum sealed and then frozen. A store here in Houston had them and all of the employees plus some home brewers i talked to there said that they would stay good like that for up to 4 months.

Not so much. They'll be big lumps of vegetal matter. There is a reason wet hopped beers are only available for a very short time!
 
Hmmm... well I guess I will find out on Friday when I defrost them. Hope I don't end up with terrible expensive mess on my hands.
 
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